Dear Friends,
This year’s Israeli Independence Day – Yom Ha’atzmaut – is unlike any prior Independence Day.
On Sunday, to mark Israel’s Memorial Day, Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates came together for a powerful joint memorial service – sharing each other’s pain and grief from a conflict that has robbed far too many of their loved ones. J Street was proud to sponsor the event, which, despite the best efforts of hackers, was streamed to thousands across Israel and around the world.
Then, last night, in stark contrast to government-sponsored Independence Day celebration events, hostage family members gathered to extinguish torches, rather than light torches, in a display of anger towards the Netanyahu government’s failures on October 7 and its abdication of responsibility since. “No Hostages, No Independence,” their signs read.
Today at 2pm Eastern, J Street will mark Yom Ha’atzmaut alongside our Progressive Israel Network partners with an event featuring Israeli pro-democracy movement leaders and our dear friend and partner, Representative Jerry Nadler. I hope you can register to join us here >>
Together, we’ll acknowledge the dark and difficult moment we find ourselves in and seek to find glimmers of hope as we discuss how our pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy community in the US can support our pro-peace, pro-democracy friends and allies in Israel.
This year, there has been little transition from the sadness and darkness of Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, to the light of Yom Ha’atzmaut. This year, we stay in that same darkness as we grapple with the reality that over 100 hostages remain trapped in Gaza, and the war rages on with no end in sight and no plan for a “day after.”
We recognize that while the future of the hostages remains uncertain, so too does the future of the State of Israel. The anger and frustration felt by many of our friends and family in Israel is clear.
Together, we ask ourselves tough questions: Will this government come together to prioritize the lives and freedom of hostages, or will right-wing leaders continue to place their own political goals above all else? Will Israel live up to the liberal democratic values of its Declaration of Independence, or will it be led down an undemocratic path by those same ultranationalist-extremists?
Will Israel hold firm to “equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex,” or will it be overtaken by Jewish supremacist voices? Will it choose to live and die by the sword, or will it pursue a path of making real its founding values of “freedom, justice, and peace?” Will we continue to prioritize our own right to self-determination over the same right for Palestinians?
As we reflect on the path we face ahead, and how we can best support those fighting the good fight in Israel, I hope you can join us at 2pm Eastern. Register to join us here >>
Thank you, sincerely, for your support.
Adina Vogel-Ayalon
Vice President and Chief of Staff, J Street
